Boolean Gates Based on Liquid Marbles

TL;DR

Liquid Marbles enable collision-based computation by exploiting LM interactions governed by energy balance, with the Weber number $We = \frac{r D v^2}{s}$ describing coalescence. The authors demonstrate realizations of classical gates (AND, XOR, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR) and discuss reversible/conservative gates (Toffoli, Fredkin), including a direct Fredkin implementation that preserves the number of marbles. They argue that universal circuits are attainable with LMs using only the initial marble set, avoiding external injection/removal. The work highlights the potential for low-dissipation, carry-free computation and hints at multi-valued or chemistry-enabled logic using LM size and internal reactions.

Abstract

Liquid Marbles are liquid droplets encapsulated by hydrophobic powder particles. They offer an efficient approach to handling liquids due to their non-wetting nature. In this work, starting from the interaction gate proposed in the literature, we describe how the logic gates AND, XOR, OR, NOT, NAND, and NOR could be realized. Given the irreversibility and non-conservativeness of classical gates, we also discuss a possible implementation of the Toffoli gate, a reversible gate, and of the Fredkin gate, a reversible and conservative gate.

Figures (15)

• Figure 1: Interaction gate.
• Figure 2: AND gate (a), XOR gate (b), OR gate (c), NOT gate (d).
• Figure 3: AND gate implementation.
• Figure 4: XOR gate implementation.
• Figure 5: OR gate implementation.